Indian Army Test Fires Israeli ‘Spyder’ Missile

Indian Army test fired a surface-to-air missile 'Spyder' from a mobile launcher at launch complex 3 of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur on Thursday.

The trial was carried out for validating various parameters of the sophisticated weapon system to further strengthen its air defence system, various media reports say.

Manufactured by Israeli firm Rafael Advanced Systems, 'Spyder' is a short-range, quick reaction surface-to-air missile designed to strike an enemy air target within a very short time.

The state-of-the-art missile has a strike range of about 15 km in low altitude. However, it is shorter than India's indigenously developed surface-to-air 'Akash' missile, which has a 25 km strike range.